Japan’s exports on the rise

Article Excerpt

ISHARES MSCI JAPAN INDEX FUND $50.84 (New York Exchange symbol EWJ; buy or sell through brokers; us.ishares.com) is an ETF that tries to match the return of the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Japan index. The fund’s top holdings include Toyota, 5.2%; Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, 2.2%; KDDI Corp. (telecom telecom), 2.0%; Softbank Corp., 1.8%; Honda Motor, 1.5%; Japan Tobacco, 1.5%; Sumitomo Mitsui Financial, 1.5%; Sony Corp., 1.4%; Mizuho Financial Group, 1.3%; and NTT DoCoMo (telecom), 1.3%. Under a Trump administration, any U.S. tariffs on foreign goods could hurt Japanese exports. The country has a trade surplus with the U.S., and the new president has accused it, along with Mexico and China, of engaging in unfair trade practices. However, Japan’s exports to China hit a record in December 2016. The strong U.S. dollar and expanding economy should also offset all but the harshest U.S. trade penalties. iShares MSCI Japan Index Fund is a buy. buy…